" 'WKRP' has been running somewhere in the world since itwent off the air in 1982, and I still get fan mail from allover the world. I'm getting tons from Germany right now, soit must be on over there. Some people don't realize how oldthe show is, how long ago it went off the air. Little kidswrite to me saying, 'I know you're older — you must be 20 --but will you wait for me?,' " Anderson said in an interviewthis week.

"I love that kind of fan mail."

The TV show that made Anderson a star, "WKRP inCincinnati," begins its run on Nick at Nite this week. Thenetwork launches the reruns with a five-day, 40-episodemarathon beginning Monday night, unofficially enshriningthe show as a classic in Nick at Nite's virtual on-airtelevision hall of fame.

The marathon will run each night this week from 8 p.m.to midnight on Tulsa cable channel 33 and will be hosted byAnderson, who played clever receptionist Jennifer Marlowe,and her "WKRP" co-star, Howard Hesseman, who played theincorrigible DJ Dr. Johnny Fever. Anderson said she'senjoyed seeing the show brought back into the limelight,though the series is no stranger to rerun ratings routs.The show ran for four seasons, '78-'82, and actually becamemore popular in syndication. Executives at CBS realized themistake of canceling the show when reruns of "WKRP" toppedMonday Night Football a year later.

"I'd forgotten a lot of it — and how funny it was,"Anderson said. "I laughed out loud, which to me is the truetest of a comedy."

"WKRP" was a smart sitcom set in a struggling Cincinnatiradio station, which makes the abrupt format shift fromelevator music to Top 40 rock 'n' roll. Though the musicthe on-air DJs are spinning is now called "classic" rock,Anderson said there's plenty for new viewers — like theyoung'uns writing her fan mail — to enjoy. "It's notdated at all," she said. "That's the interesting thing aboutthe show. Hugh (Wilson, the show's creator) was so intocomedy coming out of character and story rather than areferral joke to what's going on in the world at the time.The comedy comes out of the story and never gets old."

Anderson almost turned down the role of Jennifer. Shehad come to Hollywood from her native Minnesota at theurging of actor Pat O'Brien (who later played one ofJennifer's elderly beaus in the episode "Jennifer and theWill," airing Friday night). At the time, she was married toRoss Bickell, who was called back several times for therole of WKRP programming director Andy Travis.

"He had the script with him, and I kept getting calls togo in for the part of Jennifer. But I didn't want it. Ithought the part was window dressing," Anderson said. "It wasnot the way I wanted to go, especially since I had justdecided to go blonde. Finally, my agent said, 'There's onlyso many times you can tell MTM (Mary Tyler Moore'sproduction company) you're not interested, so I went in totry it.

"I was doing an episode of 'Three's Company' at the time('Coffee, Tea or Jack?'), so they told me to come in onSaturday. I got out my soapbox to tell them how much Ididn't like this character. I did my speech, and GrantTinker asked me, 'How would you do it then?' I said I thinkshe should be sarcastic and atypical. He said, 'So do itthat way.' But it wasn't written that way, and I cried allthe way home thinking I was terrible.

"On Monday they offered me the part. Hugh said, 'Ipromise, if this pilot sells, you'll change.' And he kepthis word. You can see the change from 'Pilot Part I' to'Pilot Part II.' In the first part, I'm sticking my chestin Andy's face and calling Carlson (station manager, playedby Gordon Jump) a jerk. Later, Carlson became my baby, andJennifer became a real person."

That was one of many battles Anderson would have tofight in Hollywood over the stereotype of the dumb blonde --ironic since Anderson was a natural brunette until movingto California.

"Before you even open your mouth, there's a look thathappens. I didn't have to deal with that as a brunette, andit was very new. I made sure to do talk shows so peoplewould see more than just the outside of me," Anderson said.

Not that Anderson couldn't play a dumb blonde quitewell. In the episode "The Consultant" (airing Friday night),the staff of WKRP reverses roles to foil a radio consultantwith ulterior motives. Jennifer pretends she's the classicditzy blonde.

"I was so intent on not letting anyone know I could do adumb blonde voice. I used it a lot when I was a brunette,but it was never a problem. After I went blonde, I didn'tdo it anymore. But I was sitting on the set one day, andsomeone made a comment, and I did the voice. Hugh said,'Did that come from you?' I said yes, and he said, 'We haveto do a show where you can use that,' " Anderson said.

Anderson has played a variety of characters since "WKRP"went to static, most recently being the mother to thebrothers in "Night at the Roxbury" and mother to PamelaAnderson in UPN's "V.I.P." Still, she remembers thatfirst TV role most fondly.

"We were such a family," she said of her "WKRP" co-stars. "Wehad all worked, but none of us had had much celebritystatus before that, so it was a beginning, and beginningsare always spectacular. You always remember your firstkiss, to have this be such a wonderful experience — well, wewere very lucky."

After this week's introductory marathon, all 90 episodesof "WKRP in Cincinnati" will air in sequence at 11 p.m. onNick at Nite.

These online "clips" reproduce a self-selection of my journalism (music etc) during the last 20+ years. It's a lotta stuff, but it only scratches the surface. I do not currently possess the time or resources to digitize the whole body of work. These posts are simply a bunch of pretty great days at the office.